KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 The Kansas City Chiefs activated running back Isiah Pacheco and defensive end Charles Omenihu on Thursday, and both are expected to be on the field when the Super Bowl champions play the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.<\/p>\n
Pacheco, who has been the lead running back the past three seasons, has been on injured reserve since Week 2, when he fractured his right fibula against Cincinnati. Pacheco has been practicing for the past couple of weeks, but the Chiefs had been cautious in getting their all-energy running back ready to play.<\/p>\n
Pacheco had only carried 34 times for 135 yards and a touchdown before getting hurt.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs signed Kareem Hunt shortly after Pacheco went down, and the veteran running back has been solid in his place. But with complementary skill sets, Pacheco and Hunt are expected to form a backfield tandem similar to what Hunt experienced in Cleveland with Nick Chubb the past few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part about that is you don\u2019t have just one where he\u2019s getting worn down, to where he\u2019s 50 or 60 percent in the third quarter. Now you have two that are working at 100 percent,\u201d Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. \u201cWhen they\u2019re up and running, we feel pretty strong about who they are and how much they can help us, and we\u2019re excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Omenihu has not been on the field since tearing his right ACL in the playoffs last year. But he was a disruptive force in 11 regular-season games last season, piling up seven sacks to go with 12 quarterback pressures.<\/p>\n
Omenihu’s return should help a pass rush whose 21 sacks are better than only four other teams in the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharles\u2019 versatility, going inside and out, adds another level of depth to our defense, especially the D-line,\u201d Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s a pass rusher. It\u2019s always good to get more pass rushers on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
As expected, the Chiefs ruled out fill-in kicker Spencer Shrader \u2014 who had been replacing the injured Harrison Butker \u2014 after he strained his hamstring earlier in the week. Matthew Wright will handle kicking duties against the Raiders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have trust in him from having been around him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, \u201cso we look forward to welcoming him into the mix. I know guys know him and have made him, I think, feel that way coming back here. Full trust in him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chiefs also promoted tight end Anthony Firkser from the practice squad after putting Peyton Hendershot on injured reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, he\u2019s another one that\u2019s coming back to us,\u201d Reid said of Firkser, who played at Harvard, \u201cso we\u2019re familiar with him and kind of what he can do. Obviously a brilliant guy, and we\u2019ve worked him in there, so he\u2019s been getting some reps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 The Kansas City Chiefs activated running back Isiah Pacheco and defensive end Charles Omenihu on Thursday, and both are expected to be on the field when the Super Bowl champions play the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n